Jack wasn't scared. He wasn't. All he'd done is reveal one of his worst secrets to someone with every reason to reject him and tell Shepard and probably get him shot in the Brig. It was a sound, smart decision that could in no way backfire. He had slept perfectly last night, wasn't running on coffee, and wasn't hiding in the armory from Tali.

Totally.

Jack dog-eared a page on the operators manual for the M-23 Katana that was his current project. When (not if, Jacob, when) he was done, he would test his new invention until he was bored out of his skull and present it to Shepard. The M-23 Katana in question was currently laying on his workbench, gutted, but he would put it back together soon enough. He hadn't used one of this place's fancy shotguns before, and if he was going to modify it, he was going to understand it inside and out. He had to. He had to, otherwise he would have time to think about what he had told Tali, and how she hadn't sought him out yet, and how he hadn't been able to sleep from his own fear (and some excitement), and how he was expecting Shepard to come bursting in at any moment accusing him of being a cannibal.

"I'm getting lunch," Jacob said, "You should probably eat something, too."

Jack gave Jacob a nod, then focused back on his work. He kept on reading, taking notes as he went, and let himself get lost in the work. The inner workings of the Katana were boring, really, but Cerberus didn't have an operating manual available for the Geth shotgun he'd taken from the Alarei, at least not one from the Geth themselves, so he knew he had to make use of the resource he did have. He had to. He wouldn't be alive if he hadn't been doing that, and he wouldn't be alive if he hadn't eaten some of those people, and he wouldn't be alive if Shepard came in the next time he raised his head and put him down like a dog. So he pushed his way through the rest of the manual, only looking back up when he turned the last page. His eyes hurt, and he glanced to Jacob, who was cataloguing inventory. With a long sigh, Jack shut the manual and stood up for the first time in hours.

"Just some light reading?" Jacob asked, amused.

"Someone was really proud of this thing," Jack said, pointing a finger at the shotgun on his workbench.

"It's a multi-million credit creation," Jacob said.

"I thought this stuff was supposed to be advanced," Jack said. "It just boils down to the same thing: point and shoot, if they aren't dead, shoot again. Then move on."

"That is how most guns work," Jacob said, pointed.

"Whatever." Jack said.

Jacob shook his head as he left. Jack didn't mind, and instead went back to work. By the end of the day, he was too tired and too scared to see Tali that night, so he went to bed without dinner and the help of several sleeping pills.

"What are you doing?" the Enclave officer croaked.

He had a steely disposition as Jack killed his men - the first with three lasers to the head, the second with shots to the chest, and the third by strapping a plasma grenade to his neck and running like hell - but as soon as he had the man cornered, the officer had begun begging. Jack had knocked him out and dragged him down into this metro. He had woken him up, of course, by shooting him in the knees.

"You have about fifteen minutes," Jack said, leaning his laser rifle against the wall. Next, he took out a serrated knife from his backpack. "I think."

The Enclave officer's eyes went wide. "Please, don't."

"No," Jack said, crouching down in front of the man. "You think you're better than me."

"You... you don't want information?" The officer asked weakly.

"Those ghouls you killed," Jack said. "They did nothing to you."

"They're zombies," the officer said.

"They were people," Jack said.

"So you're just-"

"Yes," Jack said. "Although I do want information. I don't need it, but I want it."

"W-we were going to reclaim a r-radio tower." The officer said. "That's all."

"From us mongrels, right?" Jack said.

The officer looked down. "I'm sorry." Then he looked back up. "Do you want me to beg? I will. Please, please. I have a family."

Jack rolled his eyes. He grabbed one of the officer's arms and cut into it, making a small, jagged trench. The officer screamed, but Jack wasn't moved. Once he was done, he stood up and went to his backpack, and took out a pack of cigarettes. The officer was clutching his arm, beginning to sob.

Jack only needed to light one cigarette. As he did, the Enclave officer turned his head back up.

"Oh, I don't smoke," Jack said, and he approached slowly, the predator. "I like my lungs the way they are. But I've learned a thing or two about other things I can do with these cancer sticks."

The officer's eyes widened even more as Jack crouched back down and plunged the cigarette into the cut on his arm. The officer screamed, howled more like, but Jack didn't stop for at least a minute.

When he drew the cigarette back he asked, "Are the other outposts in the area?"

"Meresti," the officer said. "We've turned it into a forward operating base."

"Who's there?" Jack asked.

"My colonel," the officer said.

"How many people do you have?" Jack leaned forward.

"A-about t-wenty." The officer winced.

Jack nodded, then plunged the cigarette back down. More screaming, more howling. Jack could see the man growing paler. He would be dead soon. Still, Jack kept on plunging until there was nothing left to learn.

Jack didn't shoot the man down, though. He didn't deserve it that easy. Jack simply left the cigarette in the wound and stepped back, watching as the man writhed his last. He packed up his things, ate, and then set out to clear Meresti once again. This time, it would be entirely justified. This time, he knew he was doing good.

Jack jolted awake as someone pressed the buzzer for his door. For a moment he was fearful, before shaking it off (mostly) and getting up to open it.

Tali stood in front of him, one hand on her hips. "You didn't come to the common room tonight."

"I..."

"I understand." she said. "I'm not sure how I feel about you, either, after what you told me. But I - you do like vids, right?"

Jack grew the hint of a smile. "Yeah, I do. I watched Fleet and Flotilla a bit ago. It was on a list of great romance movies. It's alright."

"Fleet and Flotilla is a masterpiece," Tali said.

"I don't know..." Jack said.

"You're just obsessed with that ancient Earth vid," Tali said. "Is it even in color?"

"You don't need color for a great movie," Jack said. "Casablanca is fucking amazing."

"I don't know..."

Jack shook his head. "You're hilarious."

"One of us has to be," Tali said.

Jack laughed. A little nervous, but still a laugh. Tali tilted her head some, almost studying him.

"Do you, um," Jack coughed. "Want to come in?"

After a moment Tali said, "Sure."

Jack pulled out the desk chair for her, which got him an eyeroll, but she still sat down. Jack awkwardly sat down on his bed, which was far messier than he remembered it being. It made him flush.

Tali's eyes locked onto his gun rack, on which was hanging the Geth shotgun.

"You got that from the Alarei." She stated.

"I - yes." Jack admitted. "You and Shepard were having a moment. I didn't want to, y'know, intrude."

"Why did you take it?" Tali asked. "Where is that thing you made, by the way?"

"I took the shotgun because I..." Jack said. "... I needed to get rid of the other thing. And I wanted something to replace it."

"Why?" Tali asked, surprised.

Jack swallowed. "It didn't feel right. I - the Geth are too close to people, I guess. And I don't think anyone around here would appreciate what the Railway Rifle does to people."

"I can imagine." Tali said.

"I can't," Jack said. "I don't know why it took walking flashlights for me to realize it, but... I got rid of it, so that's the end of that."

Tali leaned forward and supported her chin with her hands. "Are you planning on using the geth shotgun?"

"No," Jack said. "But I want to make something with it. Combine it with a human shotgun. It does this thing where the rounds it fires fracture and are electrified, and ignite the air into plasma. I think. I'll be doing more research. Anyway, the geth version is too heavy for me to use, but if I can find a way to integrate its systems with a regular shotgun, then that's great."

"Is that why you didn't have lunch?" Tali asked.

Jack blinked. She noticed?

"Yes," Tali said. "I saw that you weren't there. You weren't at dinner, either. Did you eat at all?"

Jack remained silent.

Tali laughed. "I see our weapons are in good hands."

"I meant to," Jack said. "But I got distracted, I guess."

Tali looked at him. Then she said, "I'm not judging you. Or, at least, I'm trying not to."

"Oh." Jack said.

"I don't know what it was like where you grew up," Tali reached offered her hand. "But if it was that bad, I'm not sure I can judge that much. I've lived, well, my life hasn't been anything like that."

Jack blinked again, and Jack gingerly took brought his hand out. Tali took it. "Um, thanks."

"I'm here," she said. "If you need someone to talk to."

Jack's eyes widened.

"I mean it," Tali said. "I do."

"Thank you," Jack managed.

"Of course," Tali said. "It's what my father would want me to do."

Her father. Oh, fuck. How could he - say something, dumbass, say something-

"My dad died too," Jack said.

"I'm sorry," Tali said.

"I... found his body, too." Jack said.

"Found it?" Tali asked slowly.

Jack sighed. "He died in front of me. Rapid-onset radiation poisoning."

"Keelah," Tali said.

"So I get it," Jack said. "If you want someone to talk to, uh, I'm here."

The pair fell into silence. Neither was sure when to let go, but in the end, Jack did first. For a while they simply sat there, looking at each other, until Tali opened an app on her omni-tool.

"Stand up," Tali said. "Come over here."

Jack did, and Tali did some more wizardy (as far as Jack was concerned) to project an image onto his bedroom wall.

Jack looked to her, but Tali asked, "Can you turn off the lights? We'll see better that way."

Again, Jack did as she said, and while it took some time, about halfway through Fleet and Flotilla, Jack was mostly relaxed. They were sitting on the floor together in the dark, and Jack's chest tightened when he realized how long it had been since he'd done anything like this. Simply watching a movie in the middle of the night, next to a girl. Jack was glad for the darkness, because the thought made him blush terribly.

"Okay," Jack said, "This is better than I remember."

Jack could hear Tali's frown. "You're just saying that."

Jack shook his head, smiling. "Guilty, as always."

Tali rolled her eyes. "Are you at least enjoying yourself, bosh'tet?"

"Yes," Jack answered, quieter.

Tali looked to him, then back at the movie - no, the vid. "That's good to hear."